Calyx of Isis

Quite a good idea. Better than mine, for sure. It handles the problem more cleanly. If one needs to review even as few as three or four creatures it has a positive impact for the server.

You know, I should have observed that the two values were different. In the MD store my XP shows as 285610, more than twice the 133k accumulated by my creatures. Thank you for getting me to look more closely. There are several ways of proceeding without frustration. I suspect you have something more specific in mind. Would you mind giving me a hint or being more explicit, either here or in a PM?

I have had precisely the same experience. I believe its an implementation detail and has nothing whatsoever to do with connection speed or type.

Thanks. It was only after I posted that I saw Mur had fixed the bug and only MP5 are allowed to lower XP at present. I still say the system is poorly designed in that [a] I maxed xp at two very different values 180k and 133k and I maxed out at a mere 34 wins. I have to go another 66 wins without being able to upgrade any of my creatures except for one egg that has yet to hatch.

I am still trying to discover how to reduce XP. I'm told I can do it with the loreroot guards, but have never managed it. As Caylx I max-xp at about 180,000 with approx 60 wins and 54 losses. After that I could not get any xp or upgrades for my creatures. My last 40 wins were truly craven, just slaughtering everything I saw so I could get to MP4. It was all meaningless, boring, and taught me nothing. All the MP4's and MP5's I talked to said, "just do it and get it over with." Having to do this goes against all the principles that are the foundation of the game. It's the sort of thing that keeps me from playing other PvP games. Last night my secondary character, Siala Lone Wolf, max-xp at 133,00 and only 34 wins and 36 losses. Is she stuck, too? She does not yet have a creature that can damage the loreroot guards so I don't know if there is anyway for this character to reduce her xp. --Am I being punished for having learned too well? I don't understand why the max xp notice occurred at two such very different values. I don't see why mp3's should have such a low artificial cap placed on them. If I have reached a level of understanding that I am no longer allowed to advance, then let me move to the next level. Why should I even bother to collect another 60 wins simply to satisfy the 100 win requirement. The whole thing is really badly designed. As for MP3's lowering XP: Is is truly possible? I've gotten hints and suggestions from several MP4's and MP5's, but nothing has worked for either Calyx or Siala. My frustration level is going through the roof.

A: I'm female. I'm not upset, just thought you should know. B: Grido is correct, I meant activity monitor. The map always showed where there were people, but I think Grido is right, the dots are different sizes. I don't have visual memory so I cannot tell if there actually was a change. I can't recall if the dots used to all be the same size.

How do you get shop resets? does it happen when you've bought everything? I rather like your idea, Grido. I don't see room for a vertical creature list at the moment, but Muratus has said that he's coded the game so alternative screen layouts can be easily implemented. When he has time to work on some wide screen formats, I'd love to have that list of creatures.

This may simply be a case of not implemented/activated yet... the MD store documentation is not clear on the status of this feature or what it actually does. All I can say is: I purchased it and it does not appear to do anything.

47 creatures!!?? Has someone been buying extra slots at the MD store?

US Pacific Coast

In Central and South America pyramids tend to be built over natural caves. This is true (to a lesser extent) in other parts of the world, and even the oldest mustabas (precursors to pyramids) were built over or near caves. Caves are generally considered to be sacred, symbolic of the Earth's womb from which all living things (including man) emerged. More often than being burial sites, pyramids are altars. Caves below or very near them make them sacred. Two other things pyramids do: [1] focus and amplify energy, and [2] their positions on the ground mimic the heavens by approximately being star maps.

It's also an issue of reducing server load.

I find reviewing my creatures stats to be an unbearably slow and painful process as the tableau of creatures must be repainted every time you return from viewing creature details and painting all those creatures is slow. I have long desired links to "next creature" and "previous creature." It would make it a lot easier to discover which is about to upgrade or which is in serious need of experience to grow. There is no technical need to continually return to the creature tableau.

I am happy to vote for the game as I want it to grow. However, I have to say I don't understand some of the links and do not want to be accused of abusing the them. The first two links, Gindis Games and Hot RPG Games, offer no way for a visitor to vote. Are we voting for MagicDuel simply by visiting those sites via a special link? It would be nice to know what to expect in advance. I am not experienced with these voting sites, and when I cannot find a way to vote I wonder why I am being sent there.

That definately seems to be how the game behaves. However, my defeat of Loreroot Guardian I did count towards my 100 wins to complete MP3. It's a tad confusing.

My idea is neither as absurd as you seem to want to make it, nor need the coding have the consequences you suggest. In any case, I was not suggesting lots of layouts. Two, maybe three, ought to be adequate and there's virtually no overhead as field details are simply read from an array as opposed to a scalar variable.

None of my battles against the Loreroot guardians show up in my battle log. Nor do my wins show up in my record of wins and losses. The game has just acknowledge me with my first 100 wins, but my displayed win counter is only 99. The missing win is my victory against the first of the Loreroot guardians. I will have to watch to see if this is true of all NPC combat. It also make me wonder about recording of RPC combat.

I have had this very thought, myself. Or even better, suppose the requirement were a minimum of 200 battles with a win/loss ratio between 35% and 65%. Or even 40% to 60%. But yes, when the issue is balanced evolution, a requirement for 100 wins is approximately a requirement for 200 combats.

I understand that browser based games have to be designed to support the least common denominator. Still, most have high resolution screens and a choice of layout would be greatly appreciated. With my resolution I can easily accommodate the image area and player names, the sidebar and the instant chat all side by side. That said... I'm sure Manu has far more important things to concern himself with than making and debugging a second screen layout.

Thanks for the guarantee -- reading here and there had rather assured me this was the case, but now I have your guarantee that it's bad. As for what might work... my crisis came when I maxed my XP. This really should have triggered something in the game. Ok, maybe not promotion to MP4, but I should have gotten something, even it was simply an invitation to learn how to cope with the problem. Alternatively, the game can detect when a player is no longer able to progress or has not progressed over a long time (many successive losses even when attacking). Perhaps there should be a secondary story that acts as a remedial class. In the long term, maybe additional puzzles could be used to help with certain problems like max xp. Right now the game is in alpha, but as it matures more puzzles and territory accessible to mp3's would help. Ditto for higher levels, but only being an mp3 I do not understand those issues yet. In real life we all learn at different rates. In the dojo most may require 100 "wins" to progress to the next level, but some will need more and others less. At present the game does nothing to detect and reward either advanced or retarded learning. Making it to successive levels of the game should be more a matter of how you actually play and use what you've learned than of reaching unvarying goals. I was the student of a shaman. She trained me differently from the way she trained her other students. Each was unique. In a good dojo, such individual teaching is possible even when there are many students. Using pattern matching the game could recognize a more flexible and meaningful goal than simply N-wins. This said, I have no problem with the 100 wins, just with the fact that they've become meaningless. If I only took challenging combats it would take many months to accumulate 100 wins. Right now I am learning very little, and I KNOW this was not Manu's intent. While the problem seems largely a matter of mechanics, I suspect it is also due to the fact that [A] the game concepts are not yet set and the game is a long way from going beta, and the player population is still too low for the game mechanics to truly work as intended. I'm sure I will have more ideas as I get further into the game.

WoW! What a wonderful idea. I would support this wholeheartedly. However, I am not certain if the combat engine has the ability to distinguish between "combat" intended to heal, and "combat" intended to harm. I certainly have seen no such ability as an MP3. Comments by higher level players suggest to me that the combat engine can make some broad classifications of combat, but I'm not certain it is capable (at this time) of supporting a healing only region. On the other hand... It would be nice to be able to enter a temple and know that I can safely perform healing rituals there.

I like the dog analogy. However, suppose I teach a bunch of dogs to walk on their forepaws in a specific formation. If one becomes disabled I have to train another, but the other dogs do not forget what they've learned. -- Ok, this is the case where some creatures "survive" and others don't. Part of the issue is that not even Manu is completely certain if the creature exist as physical entities. (At least, that's what I get from the posts I've read so far.) If the creatures are manifestations of ourselves and exist a physical entities only during combat, then the issue is what the player remembers. That rituals the succeed become more powerful over time (combo count) happens regardless of how one's visualizes the creatures. Another though on templates. I had a ritual with combo=19. I tossed it in an attack on the loreroot guards. Now that ritual still has great value to me, even if I have to train new creatures. I know the ritual is effective and in what circumstances. The template, i.e. the ability to recreate the ritual, represents (to some degree) the knowledge I retain about my ritual regardless of which creatures I train to execute it. The sticking point is, I think, that some view the ritual as simply the knowledge of the actions required to obtain a specified effect. Others view both the knowledge and the individual creatures that use it as inseparable. In asking for templates we do not invalidate the need to train creatures; the reconstituted ritual/creature combonation has no combo value. By calling the statistic combo Manu seems to indicate that the recipe and the creatures are distinct and combine to form a useful combination. Again, the recipe (template) is not lost simply because the creatures have been drained of vitality. (I have the impression that there is no "death" here, and that zero vitality represents something other than death.)

I really would appreciate a hint. I will ask you in game if I see you. So far have managed to get tiny bits of negative xp twice and my creatures were able to record 2 wins. I am trying to stay involved and be an active participant here and in game. The basic premises of the game are dear to my heart and I truly desire to see the game mechanics live up to the dream. At present I am killing players only because I need to rack up 100 wins. This is absolutely awful. I hate it, and if it persistently occurs and Manu won't move away from it, I will not stay with the game. A game that promotes balance needs to have a better way for players to advance than simply getting a fixed number of kills. There is no virtue or honor in it and it runs completely counter to the basic ideas behind this game. During the story line play should be like being in a martial arts school. One duels, does combat with others, solely for the purpose of learning and growing. Each exercise and combat is designed to promote growth. In addition, a good master will teach that one should fight only when necessary, either in defense of yourself or those around you. Doing combat simply to get so called victories is pointless. When a player reaches a point where no forward progress -- other than "win" count -- can be made, all virtue in the duels that follow is lost as they are simply a mechanical process and not truly contributing towards growth. One could argue that learning to lower one's xp is as vital to learning the game as is making xp grow. However, until and unless the mechanics of lowering XP are known to more than just a few high level players, the argument has no validity. As near as I can tell, lowering XP requires a level of cooperation that is not (at present) encouraged in mp3's. And given the number of mp4's begging for healing rituals or particular kinds of wins and losses, the game has yet to foster sufficient cooperation among mp4's as well. In general I hate and will not play PvP games. I joined this game because of the ideas. I will do what I can to see that the game mechanics match the ideals.

I am mp3, have 62 wins and 56 losses, but I have hit my XP max and my creatures cannot gain wins or xp. I've won a few battles since hitting my max, but my creatures win counters do not increase. The cannot and will not be upgraded until mp4 and mp4 will happen only if I engage is a series of battles with no virtue or honor. It's dull, boring, and uninteresting. Now the thing is, I did what I was instructed to do. Maintained my balance, engaged in healing rituals, upgraded my creatures when I could. All with no idea that the game was going to simply stop me dead in my tracks. I'd like to propose that game limits not be set in concrete but be somewhat giving. Progress should not be stopped completely, but be made increasingly difficult. At present, game boundaries are invisible until you hit them. Then, because of game mechanics, it becomes very difficult to do anything. Since so little is effective, there is almost no way to learn what to do when no progress is possible. The recent contest makes it clear that there are ways for high level players to zero out their xp, but can an mp3 do it. I would dearly love to know how. Healing rituals might do it, if I could find anybody willing to let me attack with a healing ritual. For an mp3, defending with a healing ritual does nothing to reduce xp. Over all, the game mechanics need to be a bit more forgiving. And facts about the game mechanics need to be more available. Here I though I had found a game whose principles would keep me involved forever. And now, in eight short days, the mechanics of the game have caused me to loose interest.